Best 4lb/possible preemie infant seat in Canada?

canadiangie said:

OP, do some reading on the Contours tandem, and if you like what you read, the Sears spring catalogue has it available.

You could have 1 baby + toddler, 2 babies docked in travel system mode, or 2 toddlers. You need to order 1 extra car seat adapter as I believe the stroller only comes with 1, but for about $250(?) - maybe less, you'd have a really versatile stroller. They are very popular here - like a less expensive and more mainstream City Select type stroller. And the car seat adapter kits are universal.

The Chicco Cortina double is a beast of a stroller. Huge and heavy. At least with the Contours you could go right down to frame mode if you just had the babies with you. And if you have all three you would be in frame + adapter + 1 stroller seat mode. Way more compact in your cargo area.

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We had been looking at the Optima version of the Contours, but it's not available in Canada, so I can't go see one anywhere. I may go take another look at the Options one. The City Select was looking pretty nice (if a bit out of the ideal budget), until I started pricing out all the 'extras' just to get it to a very basic set up ... which made it now no-where-near-budget!

Pixelated said:

You've got a bit of time to watch for a sale. It's sporadically marked down on Amazon for a really good price, and I check there often to post Friday sales on a FB group I co-admin. I'll try to remember to post back here if I see it.

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Have you seen anything better than 199$ for the Keyfit in Canada? I've found them in one colour at that price, and since we will not be handing them down to other children, I'm not worried about the manufacturing date shortening their time-before-expiry.

SynEpona said:

Have you seen anything better than 199$ for the Keyfit in Canada? I've found them in one colour at that price, and since we will not be handing them down to other children, I'm not worried about the manufacturing date shortening their time-before-expiry.

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It was on for a few days on Amazon.ca for $141 but that was shockingly low. $176 pops up there now and then. Amazon is very fleeting and unpredictable with their sales so it's hard to guess when or if it might appear at that price again. I'm not sure if there's a way to flag an item and be emailed if it goes on sale or not.

SynEpona said:

Have you seen anything better than 199$ for the Keyfit in Canada? I've found them in one colour at that price, and since we will not be handing them down to other children, I'm not worried about the manufacturing date shortening their time-before-expiry.

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If you are still hoping to get both babies on your 60 portion you might have really good luck with the SR30. Straight bases - not flared, and the seat itself is narrow. I consider myself kind of an expert on bringing home small babies (my smallest came home at 3 pounds 10 ounces), and I don't think the fit of the KF on small babies is any better than the SR30. So much depends on the shape of the baby, too. You know how we say proportion of the child plays a big role in fit? Well that applies to preemies/smaller babies too. For $149 at Walmart I think the SR30 is a really, really good option. The smallest baby I have seen in one was just over 4 pounds, and the fit was good. I was impressed.

Eta- and yes, I agree, the City Select gets absolutely ridiculous when you add even basic accessories. Fully outfitted you're getting close to $1k.

canadiangie said:

If you are still hoping to get both babies on your 60 portion you might have really good luck with the SR30. Straight bases - not flared, and the seat itself is narrow. I consider myself kind of an expert on bringing home small babies (my smallest came home at 3 pounds 10 ounces), and I don't think the fit of the KF on small babies is any better than the SR30. So much depends on the shape of the baby, too. You know how we say proportion of the child plays a big role in fit? Well that applies to preemies/smaller babies too. For $149 at Walmart I think the SR30 is a really, really good option. The smallest baby I have seen in one was just over 4 pounds, and the fit was good. I was impressed.

Eta- and yes, I agree, the City Select gets absolutely ridiculous when you add even basic accessories. Fully outfitted you're getting close to $1k.

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Do you have any experience with how the SR30 goes immediately next to a RF Radian?

I think I need to keep one of the older kids in the 2nd row, or I won't have any way at all to pass things to the back. We routinely drive 45 - 90 min as a family to visit other family members, and being able to pass snacks or water bottles makes it a more pleasant drive I realised I don't want to lose that ability!

SynEpona said:

Do you have any experience with how the SR30 goes immediately next to a RF Radian?

I think I need to keep one of the older kids in the 2nd row, or I won't have any way at all to pass things to the back. We routinely drive 45 - 90 min as a family to visit other family members, and being able to pass snacks or water bottles makes it a more pleasant drive I realised I don't want to lose that ability!

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No, I don't. But my guess is that a SR30 and Radian would be friendly together. I cannot see why they wouldn't. Would the Radian be rf or ff?

Thank you all for your help & suggestions!

We ordered, and received, the Chicco Keyfit. I thought about the Graco, but I've never liked any Graco seats, so didn't think it'd be worth the small savings. We didn't order extra bases yet, and I did get 2 the same colour -- the extra cost to get a different colour didn't make sense. Only Graphica was found on sale, but it has the winter insulated cover for the legs, which was nice. The little 'extras' like the levels on both sides, and center latch tightening and flip out extension for the canopy seem well though out. (our borrowed infant seats in the past were a PegPerego that just seemed not as awesome as expected, and 2 Gracos that were pretty simple)

We haven't installed them yet -- it's been too cold, and bench seat for the vehicle is in transit -- once it arrives and warms up, I'll fit them into the car, but they do look like a good fit and we have some flexibility as to where to put everyone in the car to make it all work.

DD (ant 2.5yr) is too big for them (only by 3lb, and not at all by overall height, but about 1-2" too tall by torso height), but has been checking them out and telling me she wants one, and tucking her dolls in them.

I'm glad you went with the Keyfit, I know for a fact that Graco's with the handles up are hard to sit next to a rear-facing radian…. At least of the RXT variety. The round part of the handle likes to butt up against the radian… and while both seats were independently installed, it took me over 45 minutes to get them to sit nicely together….

Target is clearing out some seats. A Chicco travel system was spotted in BC for $150, which is less than for the KeyFit alone.

ETA: nevermind. I didn't re-read this thread before posting, and had forgotten that you'd already bought seats.

Pixelated said:

Target is clearing out some seats. A Chicco travel system was spotted in BC for $150, which is less than for the KeyFit alone.

ETA: nevermind. I didn't re-read this thread before posting, and had forgotten that you'd already bought seats.

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Thanks for keeping an eye out anyway! Hopefully someone else still needs seats and can grab that deal

If you see spare bases for a good deal ... I do still need to get 2 of those for DH's truck. (I think ... though, the potential to do baseless install might be enough)

I'm glad you got the car seat thing figured out I've spent A LOT of time looking at different strollers in my life and I have no idea what your budget is, but I figure I might give you something to think about.... I WISH I had a stroller I could attach one of those boogie boards to. I don't know how old your current child is, but in the next year or two you might find yourself looking for different seating options. You *might* want to look at something like the stroller on orbitbaby.com because you can get one or two sidekicks (the boards as the kids get older) and one or two seats. It would give you a lot of versatility as everyone got older. I don't have the foggiest idea how that stroller is for steering though - for the price it should be like a dream.

If you're not going to get a zillion dollar stroller though and you don't take the bus anywhere, I would suggest a side by side as opposed to a tandem. The longer the stroller the harder it is to steer. I'm eyeing up the MacLaren double umbrella right now for our trip to Disneyland in 2 summers, lol.

I once asked about the Joovy with the 2 seats and the board at the back. All the responses I got back were that it's a steering nightmare. I haven't tried it personally, but the responses were strong enough that I didn't waste my time.

Good luck!